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Are There Any New Factors Concerning the Bar-Kochba Revolt

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Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica XVIII, 2012, 161-193 ARE THERE ANY NEW FACTORS CONCERNING THE BAR-KOKHBA REVOLT? MENAHEM MOR1 Keywords: Bar-Kokhba revolt, ban of circumcision, foundation of Aelia Capitolina. Abstract: The author focuses his research on four main subjects concerning the Bar- Kokhba revolt: (1) Hadrian’s promise to rebuild the Temple, (2) the ban on circumcision, (3) the Foundation of Aelia Capitolina and (4) Bar Kokhba’s leadership. Rezumat: Autorul îşi concentrează analiza asupra a 4 puncte importante privind revolta lui Bar-Kokhba: (1) promisiunea lui Hadrian de a reconstrui templul din Ierusalim, (2) interzicerea circumciziei, (3) întemeierea Aeliei Capitolina, (4)conducerea lui Bar Kokhba. One subject that has been extensively discussed in the research on the Bar-Kokhba revolt is the question regarding the immediate factors that caused its outbreak. During the last two decades, this issue has been examined from several points of view.2 In my book, The Bar-Kochba Revolt: Its Extent and Effect, I discussed this at length. My main argument was that a revolt does not usually break out because of immediate causes. The decision to go to war against a superior military force, both in numbers and in organization, is the result of cumulative and continuous factors in the social, economic, national and religious spheres.3 Since the direct causes for the revolt have recently been raised once again for discussion, I shall focus my examination of them in light of the sources and research done in recent years on the following subjects: (1) Hadrian’s promise to rebuild the Temple, (2) the ban on circumcision, (3) the Foundation of Aelia Capitolina and (4) Bar Kokhba’s leadership. 1 University of Haifa, [email protected]. 2 MOR, RAPPAPORT 2001. See also the bibliographical appendix to this article. 3 MOR 1991. 162 MENAHEM MOR 1. Hadrian’s Promise to Rebuild the Temple Midrash Genesis Rabba, 64:29 In the days of R. Joshua b. Hananiah the [Roman] State ordered the Temple to be rebuilt. Pappus and Lulianus set tables from Acco as far as Antioch and provided those who came up from the Exile [i.e. Babylon] with all their needs. Thereupon Samaritans went and warned [the Emperor]: ‘Be it known now unto the king, that, if this rebellious city be builded and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute (mindah), impost (belo) or toll – halak’ (Ezra IV, 13): ‘mindah’ is land tax; ‘belo’ is poll-tax1; ‘halak’ is androtiga.2 ‘Yet what can I do,’ said he, ‘seeing that I have already given the order?’ ‘Send a command to them that they must change its site or add five cubits thereto or lessen it by five cubits, and then they will with draw from it of their own accord.’ Now the Community [of Israel] was assembled in the plain of Beth Rimmon; when the [royal] dispatches arrived, they burst out weeping, and wanted to revolt against the [Roman] power. Thereupon they [the Sages] decided: Let R. Joshua b. Hanania go, as he is a master of Scripture. So he went and harangued them: A wild lion killed [an animal], and a bone stuck in his throat. Thereupon he proclaimed: ‘I will reward anyone who removes it.’ An Egyptian heron, which has a long beak, came and pulled it out and demanded his reward. ‘Go’, he replied, ‘you will be able to boast that you entered the lion’s mouth in peace and came out in peace’ [unscathed]. Even so, Let us be satisfied that we entered into dealings with this people in peace and have emerged in peace 4 (Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, Translated by Freedman, H).3F 4 בימי ר' יהושע בן חנניה גזרה מלכות שיבנה בית המקדש, הושיבו פפוס ולוליאנוס טרפיזין מעכו ועד אנטיוכיה והיו מספיקים לעולי גולה, אזלין אילין כותאי ואמרין ליה ידיע ליהוי למלכא דיהן קריתא דך תתבנא ושוריא ישתכללון מנדה בלו והלך לא ינתנון (עזרא ד יג) מנדה זו מידת הארץ, בלו זה פרוביגרון, והלך לאדרוטינה, אמר להון מה נעביד וגזרית , אמרין ליה שלח אמר להון ישנוניה מן אתריה אי יוספון עלוי חמש אמין או יבצרון מיניה חמש אמין ומן גרמון אינון חזרין בהון. הוין קהלייא מצמתין בהדא בקעתא דבית רמון , כיוון דאתון כתביא שורון בייכין בעיין ממרד על מלכותא, אמרין יעול חד בר נש חכים וישרך ציבורא, אמרין יעול ר' יהושע בן חנניה דהוא אסכולסטיקה דאורייתא, על ודרש אריה טרף טרף ועמד עצם בגרונו, אמר כל Are There Any New Factors Concerning the Bar-Kokhba Revolt? 163 This source describes the promise made by Hadrian to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. The plan failed because of the subversions of the Samaritans, and its cancellation nearly led to a Jewish revolt against Hadrian. Since I have adopted the approach of those researchers who discount the 5 historical value of the source, I shall not expand on this matter.4F In my view, this text belongs with a number of Jewish anti-Samaritan sources that try to present the Samaritans as the schemers behind most of the 6 calamities that befell the Jews.5F 2. The Ban on Circumcision Historia Augusta, Hadrianus 14.2: Moverunt ea tempestate et Iudaei bellum, quod vettabantur 7 mutilare genitalia. 6F This line in the biography of Hadrian, from a collection of biographies of the Caesars called Historia Augusta, has been interpreted as evidence that Hadrian forbade the Jews to perform circumcisions. The problematic nature of the Historia Augusta in general, and the biography of Hadrian in particular (which is ascribed to an imaginary author named 8 Spartianus), are well documented.7F דאתי מפק ליה אנא יהיב ליה אגריה, אתא הדין קורה מצרייה דמקוריה אריך ויהיב מקורה ואפקיה, אמר ליה הב לי אגרי. אמר ליה אזיל תהוי מגלג ואמר דעלת לפומיה דאריא בשלם ונפקת בשלם, כך דיינו שניכנסנו באומה זו בשלום ויצאנו בשלום (בראשית רבה סד, כט מהדורת תיאודור-אלבק, 710–712) 5 MOR 1991, 171-173. 6 MOR 2003a, 172-175. 7 For the different translations of the phrase mutilare genitalia, See for example: David Magie: “At this time the Jews began war, because they were forbidden to practise circumcision" (The Scriptores Historiae Augusta, translated by Magie D, LCL, Vol. I, Cambridge, Mass. 1921, 45). M. Rabello: “At that time the Jews, too, began war because they were forbidden to mutilate (mutilare) the sexual organs” (RABELLO 1995, 187); Isaac “At this time the Jews started a war because they were forbidden to mutilate their genitals” (ISAAC 1998, 277); Golan: The Iudaei began war because they were forbidden to damage a necessary part of the male's genital organs" (GOLAN 1988, 338). 8 On the Historia Augusta, see: SYME 1971a. See also GOLAN 1989. 164 MENAHEM MOR Ronald Syme has already drawn attention to the fact that the Jews provide a rich variety of peculiarity, and therefore the [work] contains comic aspects: The concern of the Historia Augusta with the Jews was not, it appears, either sustained or notably malevolent. Fun and oddities rather than any preoccupation with cult and race and nationality.9 David Golan also draws attention to the grotesque and ironic style of writing in Historia Augusta. In his view, circumcision is mentioned in a context of mockery for the sake of thaumasia (an extraordinary kind of the strange-grotesque that also arouses amazement). In his words: No less telling is the fact that the editor-author rather than choose the prevailing technical or juridical term for describing circumcision in his text, that is circumcidere, preferred an expression which bluntly associated it with castration. The literary effect to which the writer aimed seems obvious, combining erotic innuendos and scoffing remarks on account of the oddity of the Iudaei.10 In a similar manner, Benjamin Isaac notes: It is worth noting that the SHA does not mention circumcision but mutilation. The implication is that this was a ludicrous rebellion, for who in any sense would go to war because he was forbidden to mutilate his genitals?11 Nevertheless, Moshe David Herr and Alfredo Mordechai Rabello maintain that the only cause for the revolt was the ban on circumcision. Herr explains that circumcision was perceived by Hadrian as castration and thus imposed on the Jews the decree forbidding castration. He finds 9 SYME 1971b, 68. 10 GOLAN 1988, 338. See: ISAAC 2005, 64. 11 ISAAC 1998, 277-278. See also: ISAAC 2004, 472-474. Are There Any New Factors Concerning the Bar-Kokhba Revolt? 165 support for his view in Midrash Bereshit Rabbati which will be discussed 12 later on.11F Midrash Bereshit Rabbati, 17, 1: R. Yudan said: When Turnus Rufus banned circumcision, a man circumcised his son and went up to the Bema and was caught. He asked him: Didn’t you hear that I prohibited? He answered: I heard. He asked him: So why did you circumcise your son? He answered: Two set at me the prohibition; the king said that I shall do and his servant ordered not to do. Which one should I fulfill? Turnus Rufus told him: The king allowed circumcising and I said not to circumcise, he will come and deal with you. The baby replied from the bosom of his mother and said: You are exempt. Since Turnus Rufus noticed that he is an infant, he said: He did not say it on his own, but he told it to me, and he dismissed 13 him12F In his discussion of the sources that relate to the ban on circumcision, Aharon Oppenheimer claimed that these sources refer to the religious 14 decrees that Hadrian promulgated after the suppression of the revolt.13F He shares the opinion of scholars who find in Historia Augusta a clear intention to arouse laughter and ridicule towards the Jews, exactly as Martial did in one of his epigrams: Menophilus’ person a sheath covers so enormous that it would be sufficient for the whole tribe of comic actors.
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    Why Did Beit Shean Let Betar Win? Latent Ethnic Solidarity and the Sports Ethic in Israel

    UCO C OO Why Did Beit Shean Let Betar Win? Latent Ethnic Solidarity and the Sports Ethic in Israel Tamir Sorek (university of fl orida) “You are not going to believe what you are about to see,” the Spanish television broadcaster warned his audience. He was reporting on a soccer game in Israel—not a subject of everyday interest for the international news media. Yet this particular match between Hapo’el Beit Shean and Betar Jerusalem, which took place on May 2, 1998 in the Kiryat Eliezer stadium in Haifa, was very much out of the ordinary. In fact, it was one of the strangest soccer games ever seen in Israel. A huge headline in Yedioth Ahronoth on May 3, 1998 summed it up in one word: “Shame.” What had happened? During the fi nal eight minutes of the game, with the score tied at 2–2, the Beit Shean team had “moved aside” and allowed Betar to score a win- ning goal. In the words of a Yedioth Ahronoth commentator: “I have watched soccer for 25 years, and I do not remember ever seeing such a bizarre, embarrassing, and shameful spectacle as the last eight minutes in Kiryat Eliezer.”1 Taking place in the penultimate round (29 out of 30) of the 1997–1998 soccer season, this game was particularly important. As in European countries, Israeli soc- cer teams compete in a hierarchical framework of leagues, the top two of which are known (since 1998) as Ligat ha’al (the premier league) and Haligah haleumit (the national league). Twelve teams compete in each league, and at the end of each sea- son, the bottom two teams in Ligat ha’al are relegated to the national league, while the top two national league teams are promoted to the premier league.